Well, I continually read about Sepp Blatter and the extent of his (and his cronies, of course) corruption. Today I read an article about a SA politician (you can read about it here, http://www.runofplay.com/2009/01/05...-whistleblower-shot-to-death-in-south-africa/ , and here, http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2448802,00.html) who it seems was assasinated a few days ago for having shed light on some massive local corruption to favor the local fat rich men. But, Sepp has already accepted all the bribes and hookers he can handle, and has made agreements with the same local fat rich men to hold the world cup there so that they can make bundles of money from the exploitation of poorer classes and continue to concentrate wealth. And Sepp doesn't even care, not surprisingly. That's not true. He does care. Those local fat rich men (and local fat rich men everywhere) are the ones that provided him with all of his filthy power and wealth to begin with! So, completely sick of this crap, (and certainly not just in the football world, either) I'm wondering, how are FIFA rules set up regarding ''hiring and firing'' (or election and deposition, or coup and counter-coup) of the head, and how is the top level of the organization is formed? And, more importantly in the long-term, what might we be able to do to destroy this absurd centralization of power in the future and bring it down to the people so that we can use football to bring humanity together instead using it to build up a smaller and smaller, more powerful--and more despotic--class? I look forward to the discussion, and all the insights folks here can provide. Thanks Tomas
sorry to rain on your parade of revolution, but do you really believe another FIFA president would not be corrupt? How should someone even become president without being corrupt and bribing others. Blatter should be judged by his achievement and I must say he did a lot of good things to football. He brought the WC to Africa. He made the schedule turmoils disappear and we now have a solid calendar. He has a heart for smaller countries/clubs which is the reason why he is critizied by the big nations/clubs mainly. (e.g. olympics debate) He accepts that he makes mistakes by abolishing the rotation principle of WC hosting. To me, he has done more good than other. Corruption? What were Samaranch, Rogge, Havelange? Come on.
I cannot remember the quote directly or who said it (although I distinctly remember it being German in origin), but: If you think running a government with corruption is bad, try running one without it.
Well, I was hoping folks would have some ideas on the second part of my question, which was about how we might be able to decentralize the decision-making process. I don't know jack about the previous presidents of FIFA, and I am easily convinced that they were equally power-hungry types, and maybe they didn't do as much for football as Sepp. But, I don't think there should be one person, or even a small group of people, that are the only ones who are able to make decisions that affect the rest of us (and affect some more than others, such as the group of people whose land was stolen to build a stadium and the man who was assassinated trying to out the details). Can anyone respond to the questions about how the top rung of FIFA is actually formed? Thanks
Corruption has been thrown so many times it has lost its real meaning. Stop all the conspiracy and corruption BS, just because you disagree does not make him corrupt.
With all the obvious corruption, bullying and belittling going on, Yanyez, and given your defense of such practices, I have to wonder: did your parents support Pinochet? You seem to have responded only emotionally to my questions and not rationally, because you give no evidence to the contrary. And, just because corruption is so rampant and obvious and over-the-top these days it doesn't mean that it isn't corruption plain and simple. Can anyone answer any part of my original questions regarding the organization of FIFA's top end?
Funny thing about Blatter is that both Gibraldo and tomasbernal are right about him. His tenure has done a lot to "raise all boats" AND he and his cronies are grossly corrupt. To remove him would require: A) A different faction to get one of their own elected to that office (or one just below it and then cause PR trouble for Sepp). Unfortunately, this would most likely be the "World Cup should just be Brazil, Argentina, and 14 European nations" crowd. Or... B) He'd have to get seriously punished by some other court (most likely Swiss) and impeachment-type proceedings (which any organization would have) could begin in the FIFA Ethics Committee. However, Blatter's pretty slippery so good luck with that...
Hey thanks for the response Eric. Are you saying that the only possible change would be that a different ''faction'' (like Jack Warner's clan) stage a coup? If that's the case, then how the hell do we get rid of Jack Warner (equally important if you ask me) and change CONCACAF some?
I don't actually see any of these achievements. Gave the world cup to Africa? It's yet to be played yet, we need to wait until afterwards until we can say whether or not that was a sensible choice. Made schedule turmoil disappear? What does this mean? The schedule is just the same as it always was. Supports small clubs and nations? He supports the small nations because they are the ones that vote for him. Those are the ones he panders to in order to maintain his position in power. Accepts he made a mistake? Well he shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place. He only said it originally to curry favour with the minnows. Havelange was terrible too, but he was the man Blatter learnt it from. Blatter was his protege. Sadly it's in the small countries that corruption is endemic, and that is part of his problem.
You give me REAL examples showing his corruption, and not just stating policies that you dont agree with.
I won't get into the notions of corruption, but I do feel he is very biased against certain countries and associations, disguised as taking care of the smaller countries and leagues. Has he done some good? Most likely, considering the options and the state of the game, but he's hardly tackled the serious issues (racism, local league corruption) with anything more than lip service. He's also pushing too hard for more FIFA events over local league/cup events, which is nothing more than a political power play for money and control. Instead of celebrating UEFA's accomplishements at raising the standards for facilities, exposure and $ brought into the game he is very bitter and jealous. To answer the spirit of the original question I'll take this tack: The best way to see a new president elected and ensure he has the best overall interest of the game at heart will, IMHO, require two key things: 1) A tight partnership among UEFA and Conmembol parties that are closely tied to the powerful professional leagues and clubs must lead the charge. FIFA's internal conflict between national team interests/FIFA events and those of the professsional clubs and leagues must be brought to greater harmony. FIFA should try to build off the global popularity of the major leagues in Europe and Latin America instead of trying to stifle them, and if the new president understands the interests of the name brands on both sides of the Atlantic then he/she will have unprecedented support from those countries. Something not seen in a long time. 2) That same partnership above must have a strategy in hand for partnering with the other confederations in building the sport among poorer and smaller countries, most notably Africa and Asia. Those countries and organizations would be hard pressed to cede any of the standing they currently perceive holding within FIFA, but the actions taken by FIFA haven't been as progressive as they could be or seen as much cooperation from established professional leagues, either. More work could be done to harmonize international calendars, improvements could be had in the tracking and recruiting of young internationals (especiallyin agent contracts), and FIFA could certainly do more in terms of providing direct support ($ and know-how) in helping the poorer leagues via the expertise of the bigger leagues. If countries in Africa and Asia see a movement that is actually spearheaded by the power leagues rather than something forced upon those organizations, they would likely endorse that new leadership. Bottom line, FIFA has been operating lately on it's own interests, without full and proper coordination of the interests of all the individual members and confederations. IMO the new leadership must bridge that divide, beginning with the established cultures and organizations that have made the game as popular as it is now.
Unfortunately, Warner IS part of Blatter's faction, so Cap'n Jack or Chuck Blazer taking over would be just as bad. In CONCACAF, getting rid of Warner would probably require eliminating any sense of democracy since he has more than enough votes thanks to all the Caribbean members.
IIRC, (please correct me if I'm wrong) the way Blatter got in, was because Havalange (CONMEBOL) supported (CAF) which allowed Blatter along with (CONCACAF) to allow more nations in the WC. So if that's the last reason for an election. Oceania would be the reason why there would be another "shake-up" because unlike other organizations, FIFA doesn't have the "were not making enough money" factor.
blatter is elected by fifa's member associations. they are the only ones who can replace him. i'm not sure what you mean by centralization. fifa runs the world cup and world youth cups. that's about it. regional competitions are governed by regional confederations, national competitions by national associations. where's the centralization?
Read Andrew Jennings book "Foul !" it's all in there, names, dates,kick backs, bribes the lot. Blatter is a crook, simple as that.
Read the book, you'll change your mind. Were it not true Blatter would have sued for lible. Blatter is the biggest crook in a game full of them.
Ah yes, Andrew Jennings: "Scotland Yard is a cocaine running operation" "The IOC is corrupt" "FIFA is corrupt" "the nurses are poisoning my tea!!!!!". If all the alleged "bribes" etc that are so faithfully documented in these books are so well proven, why is no one ever brought to court for them. Are the world's police forces on Sepp's payroll to? Is that what my player registration is funding - bribes to Bulgarian Border Security to allow Sepp's "Bag-o-Cash" van to pass unhindered after the handoff in Istanbul? As for not suing - why bring attention to an obviously attention deficient person in the first place. Like the bleating epics of John Pilger, no-one actually reads these books at first - the author just hopes he raises enough feigned indignation to get himself on the chat show circuit so he can subsist off green room nachos and free booze. Getting sued for libel would be a meal ticket for this bloke. We all know Sepp's a bit (a lot) of a douche, but then he effectively runs one of the world's most ridiculous and out-of-touch organisations. His primary job is to funnel large sums of money from people who should know better into a system that barely needs it. Why try and solve world hunger when the money can more effectively spent on getting Edwin van der Sar to plug your new line of platform shoes? Like the people who run similar organisations (where money is spent on image building as much as product - and certainly shies away from anything the world actually needs) it is the job he does that is so offensive. Sit in this world for any length of time and writing a book about "corruption" becomes simple. 1) Adidas offers $100m for exclusive rights 2) Nike offers $100m for exclusive rights 3) Adidas take you to lunch to discuss 4) Nike take you to lunch to discuss 5) You award the contract to Adidas Just leave out point 4 from your book and "presto"- obvious corruption. Frankly, in the current climate of mind-boggling corporate ineptitude and money losing ability, FIFA's understandable problems, petty stupidities and "questionable practices" make them look refreshingly upstanding. J
blatter is peice of shit, i dont understand how it is that football fans can, in extreme cases, , feel the urge to kill and maime other fans, but no one is prepared to put a bullet into this odious little man head. with scum running the game, the whole sport is devalued. he owns football, he owns the name, the rules, the schedule, everything. he can decide to just appoint a country a world cup, and another year have a vote on it, he rules by decree. his expenses are totally secret, the channels of money within fifa are not accounted for. just because havelange and him managed to get thier claws into fifa, the game has been owned by crooks for almost 40 years. if this was a government we would be up in arms, but the simple truth is that a lot of us spend far more time preoccupied with matters of football than we do of politics. why the ******** is it so impossible for anything to be done about this? i am sick of blatter, platini, warner etc. one problem is that i feel a lot of the same things about the english fa, and probably the sentiment of most fans is to dislike their own football associations, but the reason i dislike the english fa is because they are morons, not because they are corrupt despots. ok, rant over, and no solutions put forward im afraid. but does anyone else know of anyother examples in sports where governing bodies were brought down? would be interesting to know.
So my post (#13) doesn't even get credit as a proposed solution, even if others eventually disagree. Harsh, dude. Oh well, back to surfing porn I guess...
At least I'm not the only one who feels this way! You know, hooliganism stemmed from politico-social differences. Ranger-Celtic is a good example. Historically, Rangers is the right-wing club and fans and Celtic is the working class, anti-fascist side. St. Pauli is another historically political/social club. I'm sure there are many other examples, and also of infighting, but I just don't know any others really. Unfortunately, I suppose the rightists won and have made most fans (and hooligans) into bumbling idiots for whom footy is the only thing that matters in their lives. Of course, that may stab the Sepps of the world in the back when the shit hits the club fans...don't ******** with their football or you'll get ********ed up.